Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
My name is Darius Elias. I'm a member of the Yukon Legislative Assembly, and I represent the fly-in-only community of Old Crow. We are the only community in the territory to benefit from the food mail subsidy program.
I want to begin by expressing my community's appreciation. The federal food subsidy program is an investment that means a great deal to my constituents.
My testimony to you today will focus on a united message from my constituents, the community of Old Crow, the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation chief and council, and all 17 of the territory's members of the legislative assembly.
The Nutrition North Canada program objective to ensure that healthy foods are more accessible and affordable to our community of Old Crow will not be achieved should the program be implemented solely as a retail subsidy on April 1, 2011. My ask to you is that come April 1, 2011, the Nutrition North Canada food subsidy program include an exemption for our community. I ask that it have flexibility to maintain the personal shipping transportation subsidy from Whitehorse, our capital city, to Old Crow, for nutritious perishable food, non-food items, non-perishable foods, and essential non-food items, via Air North—Yukon's airline. I also ask to maintain a transportation subsidy that is administered by Air North, removing Canada Post from the picture altogether, with the airline being directly accountable to the Department of Indian Affairs.
Implicit in this ask is the ability for our community members to purchase affordable, healthy foods from wherever they choose, and to take those healthy choices to Air North, which provides the only and most direct transportation service route possible to get the healthy foods to dinner tables in Old Crow.
We feel this community-based solution is the best way to fulfill the Nutrition North Canada program objectives. It is my hope that our united message from the Yukon Territory will provide the necessary justification for a change in mandate, a program exemption, and flexibility to fully meet the Nutrition North Canada program objectives, thus helping to maintain our strong, vibrant, healthy Arctic community in Old Crow, Yukon.
We understand we need the best investment possible, and we believe we already have a workable system in the Yukon. With some fine-tuning, it can be more efficient. My constituents are wondering what the department of INAC is trying to fix in the Yukon. This level of overhaul in the food mail program is considered to be excessive and unnecessary by my constituents.
The Nutrition North Canada program, implemented as is, has the potential to negatively impact the physical and financial health of our families and the single mothers and elders who are on a fixed income. That is unacceptable. The Nutrition North Canada program is viewed as a step backwards and a potential disservice to our community.
I'll finish by submitting some prices of food in Old Crow and in Whitehorse. The prices in Old Crow are subsidized. In the Northern Store, the parent company to the North West Company--the distribution centre is in Winnipeg, Manitoba--a loaf of Wonder bread in Old Crow, as of last Saturday, was $6.19; in Whitehorse, it was $2.97. Two litres of milk in Old Crow are $9.59; in Whitehorse, it is $2.98. One dozen eggs in Old Crow is $6.19; in Whitehorse, it is $2.98. A five-pound bag of McIntosh apples--there are about ten or eleven apples in the bag--in Old Crow is $11.59; in Whitehorse, $4.49.
I thank you for the opportunity to submit my testimony to you today. Mahsi Cho.
I'll be willing to answer any and all questions that are presented to me on behalf of my constituents. Thank you.